Who the best man wins
by Loviet
Summary: Travis is beginning to give up hope on loosing Lily to Ray, but what happens when she becomes jealous over the new girl he can't stop talking about?
1. Default Chapter

Hey everyone! Just wanted to tell ya that I never really finish my fanfics, but this one is going to be different and fun to write! Only because I know a lot about RFR and that. So I'm excited and so should you! ï So anyway! The setting here is the morning after Ray and Travis talk about liking Lily. "May the best man win". Okay.

--Loviet

'' = Thinking

"" =Dialogue

CHAPTER ONE 

Fumbling with his lock to his locker, Travis grits his teeth as he could not concentrate putting the correct combination in. Finally, after about five tries, he swings open the door and begins to unpack when he hears a giggle coming from down the hallway. He looks towards the joyous voice he enjoys, to find something else that makes him more frustrated. Audrey ((A/N: I suppose that is her name, I keep thinking it's Aubrey...lol)) and Lily were chatting and flipping their hair at something humorous.

'Since when did they make up?'

Anger boiled inside of him again as he slammed his locker door and walked down the hallway. It's not that he didn't want them to be friends, but it was just one more thing to frustrate him. Aside from him trying to win Lily over and casting Ray aside so he would not interfere. But how could he when all Ray does is do things for Lily? Turning the corner, Travis bumped into something (or rather, someone) and felt books being dropped onto his foot. After crying out in pain, jumping back, and nearly screaming out a swear word, he looked down to spot a girl picking up her books.

Her dangly long brown hair cascaded down to her middle back and she wore a black mini skirt with a pink shirt that said "Bite me" in black wording. He bent down and was helping her when he came across a book titled "Awakening The **Buddah** Within" by Lama Surya Das.

"You," he pointed to the book, "you read this?"

The girl looked at him with sharp brown eyes with a look as if saying "why do you care?" and snatched the book from his hands.

"Yeah, so?" She stood up and pushed her hair from her eyes. Then, she walked down the hallway, probably toward her locker or first class.

Travis looked after her with a look of confusion written all over her face.

"I see you've met the new student." Travis spun around to see Robbie smirking at him. "I hear she came from a rough neighborhood. Hell, something." ((A/N. There really is a city named "Hell". It's in Michigan. Look it up if you don't believe me!))

Travis nodded with interest. "Do you know her name?"

"I suppose it's something weird like Kiara or something." Robbie put his hands up and waved them in front of Travis and emphasized the word "Kiara" as if saying she's weird.

Travis laughed and hit Robbies' hands away from his face. "She was reading something on Buddah."

"You made conversation with her?"

"No, I just was picking up her books."  
  
"So you're carrying her books?"

Travis was getting angry and his eyes widen and he spread his arms apart like he was going to give him a hug.

"I don't even know her name! Why would I carry her books?"

Robbie chuckled and hit Travis on his shoulder.

"Calm down, I was only joking." Then, spotting Kim over Travis' shoulder, Robbie nods a good-bye and walks away.

Travis sighed and shook his head. Then, he started towards his first class when he saw Lily and Ray talking by the stairs. At first, he wanted to go over and break it up...just to get Lily's attention and what not. But he decided that he will get her attention sometime else...sometime when they were alone.

After school, Travis started walking home when he saw Lily alone. He quickens his pace to get to her...while Ray wasn't around. When he gets to her side he smiles and nods.

"Hey Lily."

She looks at him with a surprised look. He DID kind of sneak up on her. Remembering how she made fun of him with Audrey last night, she almost immediately feels guilty and gives a smile.

"Hey....um Travis."

Her not so welcoming greeting made him feel smaller than he already did. Biting her bottom lip wasn't a good sign either.

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" She seemed so jumpy. He couldn't help but tell. His eyebrow rose.

"I just wanted to know what was up...." Now that she seemed to be hiding something he stopped her and looked at her. "But now that you've made the impression that something is going on, would you like to tell me?"

She shook her head and smiled.

"Nothing is going on."

"Yeah right, Lily."

She continued to bite her lip and then sighed with her eyes closed. He hated seeing her so stressed....but how could he take sympathy on her when all of his stress comes from her?

"Well, Travis...I wanted to tell you that Audrey and I are friends again and she's not so found of you anymore and if she sees me with you than she won't be too happy and I really want to keep our friendship and Ray and I meeting just down this block here so..."

Travis kept his posture.

'Damnet, he got to her already?'

He nodded as if understanding.

"Alright then, I'll see you later." He walked off before hearing her strained effort ("Travis..") to bring him back. He walked a different way to avoid running into Ray. As he turned the corner he ran into a familiar someone....funny how that can happen twice in one day.

OKAY! First chapter....hope ya'll liked it! Review, please! Thank you!

--Loviet


	2. Echo

CHAPTER 2 

As he hit the person, he immediately grabbed a hold of their arm so they wouldn't fall back. Bad idea. She came flying back and bumped into his chest, which almost knocked him out of balance. When they pulled apart, Travis' eyes widened as he saw the new girl for the second time that day. She looked at him and gave some sort of effortless smile.

"You seem to have made a habit of running into people."

Since they were close (and she wasn't in a rush going anywhere) he could see her facial features. She had high cheekbones and piercing honey brown eyes. Her button like nose hovered over her pink lips and her chin was cute and curved. He smiled and stepped back, scratching his head and chuckling somewhat.

"Yeah, I-uh...sorry."

She shook her head and shrugged.

"At least you caught me this time." She seemed to be in a better mood and he liked that. He didn't know why he was interested in her, but he liked to think it was because of her interest in Buddha, and NOT her brown eyes.

"I'm Echo," she stretched her hand out for his so she could properly introduce herself. He smiled and gave her his hand.

"I'm Travis." They shook hands and she grinned. Then, they started walking. Starting conversation, Echo spoke up.

"I saw you with that girl back there. You seem to like her." There was nothing uplifting about this girl's voice. Everything she said sounded like a statement. Travis kept on walking silently; not sure what she wanted him to say.

"But you know, if you do like her I wouldn't go near her, she seems like the type that would break your heart."

At this point in time, Travis stopped and faced Echo with a sort of angry expression on his face.

"You don't even know her so how can you judge her?"

Echo's face had no expression. She was like a closed book, Travis thought...he couldn't read her at all.

"It looks like she's breaking yours."

It was true...Lily was hurting and confusing him. She took away his feelings he had for Audrey and then spit them out again. Travis continued walking and Echo followed a few steps beside him. She sighed.

"I didn't mean to get all up in your personal business...I have a tendency to do that."

Travis shook his head.

"It's alright...I just don't know why you are so interested."

Echo shrugged.

"You noticed me."

With that, she nodded her head and then went an opposite way down the street. Travis, checking his watch, decided to head to the station.

.............................................................................

As Travis entered his sanctuary, thoughts of Echo's words buzzed in his mind. How did she know Lily was hurting him? He sighed for the one thousandth time that day as he slipped on his earphones and starting mixing music together. After a while, visions of Audrey, Ray, Echo, and even Lily floated out of his brain while he disappeared into his own little world. The little room, however, became a bit too steamy and when he opened his eyes so he could walk himself out, who stood there but the very own Lily Randalls (A/N: Don't know how to spell her last name, but I think you can cut me SOME slack!).

She was sitting on the couch, staring at him with a look of pure wonder in her eyes. Those eyes he swore to Ray he would never forget. Lord, he was putty in that girl's hands, but he didn't want HER to know that. So, with a furrowed brow and a stern face, he took off the headphones and walked out of his little caged room to see what she wanted.

"You're here a bit early," he stated. His voice reminded himself of Echo...why did she keep popping to his mind?

Her eyes looked to the ceiling and she shrugged.

"Ray had a little...accident. He, uh..." She was stalling again, he though. Why did she always stall around him? "He spilt a milkshake all over his pants at Mickey's and had to go home and change. So I said I'd meet him here."

Travis imagined that didn't go well with Ray's mind...since now Lily and him were alone. But he can't think for her all the time. He nodded and sat on the table in the middle of the room where RFR's voices protruded through the microphones to give RFR radio station to the willing listeners. He loved everything about Radio Free Roscoe, but recently, attending the sessions was becoming quite a chore. Reminding himself of chores, he all of a sudden remembered he forgot his math book.

'Book,' he thought, 'wasn't I carrying that today when Echo bumped into me? Or, I bumped into Echo...' He shook his head to clear his thoughts when Lily cleared her throat to bring him from them.

As if realizing she was in the room for the first time, Travis looked at her.

"Sorry...I'm a little off today."

"Yeah...uh...you didn't sit by us today in lunch..."

'Because I couldn't stand Ray sucking up to you.' Travis grit his teeth at this thought, so he thought up an excuse instead. "Well you know, busy stuff. I had to visit teachers."

Lily squinted her eyes as if trying to read him. Travis tried to act cool so she couldn't in fact see what he was thinking. Kind of like Echo did.

"My Lord," he whispered harshly to himself. Lily curiously looked at him. Travis shook his head and then the door flew open. There was Ray, out of breath, looking between the two of them with suspicion written all over his face. Travis laughed and then walked back to his little room.

"Ray, where's Robby?" He asked. Travis was becoming more and more comfortable spending time with Lily and Ray. If one was without the other, fine...but these days that didn't really work. He tried to block them out of his mind, but whenever he did that, a very odd thing happened. The new girl would pop in his mind. Firstly because she read him so well, secondly because she read about Buddha, and thirdly her eyes were-

The door opened once more and there was Robby, looking just as frustrated as Travis was. Even though, Travis was at least glad he wasn't stuck in that uncomfortable silence Ray and Lily tended to weigh the room down with.

"What's the matter, Robby?" Ray slapped him on the back as they all got up to sit at their proper seats.

"Bad day, proceeded by a bad year." Robby plopped down in his chair and grabbed the microphone. Lily's eyebrow raised and she was about to say something when Travis gave the cue they were about to go on air.

When the switch was turned on, and the theme song ended, all four of them had pulled a superman act and were now Smog, Shady Lane, Pronto, and Question Mark. Robby, like always, was the first one to speak.

"Hey, I'm Question Mark, and I'm wondering...why is it that when you try to make things a whole lot better, they just crash and burn...preferably right back into your face?"

Everyone looked at Robby like he was insane, but they all (as always) kept their posture and continued on with their answers. The day moved on, and the show was done after the songs, the discussions, and Travis' "Buddha once said" ordeals. With that, they all left and Travis was the last to leave...as always.

....................................................................

Hoped ya'll liked it! Heehee...I hope you're getting the hints about Travis thinkin' bout Echo...cause there will be more of her later! Sorry the chapter's kind of short, but I don't have much time...what with school starting again and homework piling up in my locker and what not. Well, thank you for the reviews! (I know I only got 2 but STILL...gotta start somewhere!). HEEHEE....thank you!

Loviet


	3. Mickey's

HEY! THANK YOU REVIEWERS! You guys are the ones that are motivating me into keep on going with this story! And to answer **singergirl**, I suppose Echo is like Parker. You'll find out about Echo's clothing and personality later. Heehee....drums fingers menacingly Okay, well I guess you all want a third chapter, so here it is!

--Loviet

Chapter 3

Later that night (A/N: Yes, it still hasn't been one day! Come on people, I move slowly!), Travis was hanging out at Mickey's. His other set of earphones was on his noggin and tried his best to keep Lily off of his mind. It was so hard, that he was beginning to not mind thinking of Echo.

'Why am I so intrigued in this girl? She is nothing to me, I do not know her...yet what did she mean about noticing her?'

He'd like to think it was her lack of facial expressions he liked...and NOT her long brown hair. As he came to a conclusion that maybe he DID have an interest in her, Ray came rolling in the door, looking around and then snapping his fingers in disappointment. Travis frowned...it was so obvious he was looking for Lily. Ray scanned the room one more time and, when spotting Travis, walked over to him and sat down. Travis smiled back when Ray did, but didn't feel he should need to...after all, he WAS winning Lily. Ray smiled and said something, but Travis (due to his headphones) could only see his mindless flapping mouth running. No doubt it was about Lily and him, so it was a drag to be pulled back into a world he was just getting away from.

"What was that, Ray?"

Ray scratched his head and chuckled.

"I said, have you seen Lily? She was supposed to meet me here...since uh, our last date here didn't go so well."

Travis smirked.

"You mean due to your milkshake accident?"

Ray's attention came upon him and he quickly responded defensively.

"That person walked by and knocked it over! Hey wait..." his voice lowered and suspicion crept into his eyes. "Lily told you that, didn't she?"

Travis rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Guess she did. So? I can still talk to her...it's not like she doesn't want to talk to me."

Ray nodded, squinting his eyes as if saying "Right, sure." Travis scoffed and got up.

"Look, I need to go home and do my homework."

At that he walked away. But as he was just about to reach the door, he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Travis...didn't think someone like you would come hang here."

His head turned and what he saw almost drove him crazy. Why did he keep seeing this girl? Echo had her hair up now and a jacket on. She had her finger stuck in between two CD's to place where she was searching. Travis nodded.

"What kind of person do you take me for?"

"Someone who doesn't want to fit in," she stated as she shrugged. Always stating things.

"It's not that I want to fit in, I just like the music here."

"Liiike, this?" She pulled out the CD her finger was placing. Lily Randalls face on the cover. Echo clicked her tongue and grinned mischievously and for the first time, Travis read what was on her face. That face was saying total victory, win, knowing their prey was defeated. "You are so predictable, Travis."

Travis' blood was boiling, but he walked over to her and stopped, squinting his eyes threateningly. Then, out of his bag, he raised the same CD up to her face and turned around, pointing to where it said he was the producer. "Already got on." She nodded.

"So," she said, "you helped her get fame and fell in LOVE while doing it, eh? What a perfect romance story." Her stating seemed to dissolve as every mocking word coming from her mouth got on his nerves.

But what could he say? He didn't even know if it WAS love he was feeling. All he knew was that this girl knew about him and Lily like she was reading the back of his hand. Which, technically (with the CD being held in front of her face and all), she was. At that thought, he quickly put the CD back into his bag and sighed to calm his nerves.

"Look, could you not talk about that anymore?" He tried to glance at Ray without her seeing, but obviously failed as her eyes followed it and saw him sitting there. Her face twisted in some sort of disgust look and she sighed.

"Ray...what an immature boy to be facing. And that girl is picking him over you? Ha, well you are obviously not very good at competing." Her voice was low but soothing.

She did it again! How the hell could she read him like that? How can she know with just a small gesture. But before he could ask her, or even get in another word, Echo was walking toward Ray with sway in her walk and a twinkle in her eye. Travis' eyes widened and he turned to act like he was looking at CD's instead of them. But at the corner of his eyes, he saw everything.

Echo sat down very closely to Ray and smiled as she crossed her legs. Ray probably knew her, because he started chatting with her. Then, the door creaked open and Lily came in looking stressed. Then he knew what Echo was doing, and he couldn't believe she did it! She was distracting Ray so Travis could be with Lily! Did she like Ray? New questions about her flooded through his brain and he tried to focus on Lily's expression when she saw the two, but was so full of glee that he could barely see her.

Lily was walking in when she stopped dead as she saw Ray kind of close to this other girl. Travis almost started laughing, but coughed to keep it down. Then, he felt her near her and he smiled. Without even looking up, Travis greeted her.

"Hello, Lily."

"Travis, who is that with Ray?"

Travis looked up and put on his best-confused face.

"I don't know...I think it's the new girl."

Lily's brow furrowed and she shrugged, but he could see she was quite bewildered about it all. So was he. He couldn't figure out why Echo was talking with someone she thought was immature just so he could be with Lily. What was in it for her?

"So you haven't bought one?"

Travis was ripped, once again this day, from his thoughts by Lily and looked down to where she was pointing. He was looking through Lily's CD's.

"Oh, uh...yeah I did but uh, I lost my case."

She looked at him curiously but didn't press it. Travis, feeling disappointed in his excuse, went over to another place, preferably farther from Ray, and acted like he was picking through CD's there. Just as he hoped, Lily followed.

"So...what are you looking for?"

He shrugged.

"Just looking..."

He wanted to say more, he NEEDED to say more, but nothing was coming to mind to say to her. What was there to talk about other than the ultimate question "Are you sure we're just friends?" He sighed and then looked at her. Courage was building up when he looked into her eyes and saw she was biting her lip and looking behind him. His brow furrowed and then he too twirled around. Ray was sitting alone and Echo was no where to be seen. From where they were standing, Ray couldn't see the two, but Lily was feeling guilty, and Travis knew it.

So he scoffed and looked back to the CD's.

"You meeting Ray here on a date?"

Lily looked at Travis surprised and tried to play it off that she wasn't.

"No! No, he just..he just needs help on his uh...homework-"

"He told me." Travis looked up with a sad humorous face on. "Please," he stepped aside, "don't want to keep you away. You can ask him who that girl was with him." He grinned and pulled a CD he acted like he wanted and walked pass her.

As Lily walked hesitantly up to Ray, Travis put the "new" CD in into another category cleverly and then walked outside. Just when he was feeling on top, however, something ALWAYS seemed to bring him down. Echo was leaning against the wall outside and looking at the stars when he (with a step in his walk) strolled on out to go home. As if she was expecting him, she got up and walked up to him.

"You owe me, ya know."

Travis looked at her like she was crazy.

"Ah, but you see I did not ask you to do that...so technically it was a favor I am not meant to return."

Echo's eyebrow raised and she scoffed.

"Whatever...so did ya talk to her?"

"Yeah"

"What did you say?"

"Why do you want to know?"

By this time they were both walking down the sidewalk with the lights occasionally lighting up the area around them.

"I just thought I'd help someone..."

Travis stopped and turned to his side to face her.

"Why are you here? What do you want from me?"

"I want to help you."

Now it was turn for Travis to scoff.

"Why?"

"I already told you...you noticed me."

Travis didn't say anything. Echo sighed and continued to walk. But Travis wanted to know what she meant, so kept walking with her.

"At my old school," she began, "I wasn't liked very much. I was told I was weird. I had no friend, I made friends up so my parents wouldn't send me to counseling anymore. Alone time is needed for the inner soul, but I at least want someone to talk to."

Travis still didn't understand so stayed quiet.

"Look," she sighed in frustration, "if I help you with Lily, all you have to do is let me hang with you and your friends. In fact, that would work out well. I'd get to know Lily and Ray more and I could ya know, pull them apart and stuff..." Echo stopped and stopped him with her hand. "What do you think?"

Travis' mind was buzzing. It was like hiring someone to kill Ray, or rather Ray's HEART, yet it meant mending his. He looked at her and nodded.

"Alright...alright I'll hang out with you. Introduce you to my friends...but you must guarantee you will help me all that you can. If not, I'll tell them what you are there for."

She smirked evilly and answered, "Ah, but you see if you tell them they will know you were apart of it..., which will cause more chaos. There is no going back."

Travis cursed in his mind.

"But," she finished, "I will do my best...and believe me...there will be results."

At this, she turned and walked down a different road, disappearing into the shadows. Travis then felt sudden regret and he didn't like the feeling of this...knowing it wouldn't turn out the way he'd expect it to. How right he was.

...........................................................

WOO HOO! Another chapter out! And so SOON. : ) Alright! Well I'll try to get the next one out ASAP for all my fans. YAY I HAVE FANS! Heehee. Thank you for all the reviews!

--Loviet


End file.
